# Tell us an interesting random fact you stumbled across (Part 1) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 13, 2020, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674 "2020-04-13T03:19:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 337
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2023, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6731 "2023-06-16T20:25:19Z")
As noted by Lumpy, some radios (crystal) don’t need power. Neither did some old gramophones (just a crank to turn the table). ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2023, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6732 "2023-06-16T20:26:42Z")
How does that not violate the Law of Conservation of Energy? ETA: The crank _is_ a source of power in my understanding. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2023, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6733 "2023-06-16T20:28:31Z")
In a crystal radio the only power is the radio transmission itself. And the crank on a gramophone isn’t doing the amplifying; the unpowered and stationary horn is. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2023, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6734 "2023-06-16T20:31:36Z")
This. The (small) electro-magnetic energy in the radio waves makes the crystal resonate, and you have an audio signal. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2023, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6735 "2023-06-16T20:38:01Z")
Wow! The radio waves carry the energy to hear them? Now that is interesting. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2023, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6736 "2023-06-16T20:43:34Z")
If the radio waves wouldn’t carry that energy, there wouldn’t be anything to amplify for a diode or transistor radio, too. The whole bandwidth of music you hear on your car radio is in that tiny signal, with the signal strength depending on the power of the sending station and the distance from the sender (with the signal strength decreasing quadratically). ETA: ok, that was a bit simplified, the actual signal strength also depends on environmental factors like terrain, weather and interferences with other signals. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2023, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6737 "2023-06-16T21:45:42Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > Wow! The radio waves carry the energy to hear them? Now that is interesting. Thanks! Similarly, the RFID chips in various credit and key cards are tiny computers that are powered solely by the radio energy they receive. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2023, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6738 "2023-06-16T23:11:46Z")
It’s the same principle as sunlight powering a calculator. Visible light and radio waves are both part of the same electromagnetic spectrum. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2023, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6739 "2023-06-17T14:08:57Z")
TIL that L. Ron Hubbard and rocket scientist/ occultist [Jack Parsons](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Parsons) were in a romantic spat with the same lady. Aliester Crowley also figures into the story. At one point I think Parsons tried to kill Ron with a magical storm while Ron was at sea. More about the story [here](https://www.supercluster.com/editorial/the-occult-history-behind-nasas-jet-propulsion-laboratory). Bonus fact: In 2017, Kentucky Fried Chicken (with the help of space tourism company World View Enterprises) launched a bucket-shaped satellite toward space with its new chicken sandwich as the payload. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2023, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6740 "2023-06-17T14:12:02Z")
> [@Blindmellowjelly](#): > > Can you think of other fruits related to pineapple? Jackfruit comes to mind. I’m not sure how close the relationship is, but it is also a composite fruit and the way the fruit separates reminds me of pineapple. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2023, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6741 "2023-06-17T15:22:05Z")
Dr. Frederick Treves is best known today for his work with the Elephant Man but his greatest accomplishment was saving the life of King Edward VII from appendicitis back when it was effectively a death sentence. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2023, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6742 "2023-06-17T16:35:58Z")
> [@carnut](#): > > Jackfruit comes to mind. I’m not sure how close the relationship is, but it is also a composite fruit and the way the fruit separates reminds me of pineapple. Jackfruit is related to figs and mulberries (also composite fruits). But not pineapple. Pineapple is a bromeliad. Like air plants and Spanish Moss. We don’t eat any other bromeliads. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2023, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6743 "2023-06-17T17:34:42Z")
Is that because they don’t fruit, and pineapples are somehow unusual in that regard, or because their fruit is too small / not nice / poisonous? ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2023, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6744 "2023-06-17T17:46:32Z")
Bromeliads generally don’t produce fruit in the edible sense of the word. They are often grown as tropical ornamentals for their showy bracts and flowers. There is one that has fruit that’s big enough to eat, besides the pineapple, Bromelia antiacantha. But it is rare in cultivation, and supposedly not particularly good. ---
**Author:** ![B.Serum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/b.serum/32/14266_2.png) [@B.Serum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/B.Serum)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2023, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6745 "2023-06-17T17:49:28Z")
**Thomas Midgley, Jr.** introduced the world to both leaded gasoline and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), now considered two of the world’s most harmful chemical compounds. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2023, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6746 "2023-06-17T17:53:40Z")
But at the time considered two of the world’s most useful chemical compounds. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2023, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6747 "2023-06-17T17:58:32Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > Bromelia antiacantha Really interesting. [Caraguatá do campo (Bromelia antiacantha)](https://www.colecionandofrutas.com.br/bromeliaantiacantha.htm) has pictures of the fruit, which looks nothing like a pineapple. Almost everything I see is in Spanish or Portuguese, but [SciELO - Brasil - Ripe fruits of Bromelia antiacantha: investigations on the chemical and bioactivity profile Ripe fruits of Bromelia antiacantha: investigations on the chemical and bioactivity profile](https://www.scielo.br/j/rbfar/a/rWnnhkwFCzpL76XCbkxhTnj/?lang=en) has some description: used in folk medicine, but (it looks like) they have the same effect on the lips as eating too much pineapple can, and aren’t generally eaten. ---
**Author:** ![B.Serum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/b.serum/32/14266_2.png) [@B.Serum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/B.Serum)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2023, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6748 "2023-06-17T19:21:46Z")
Indeed. Honestly, its sobering that the scientist who legitimately created real-world Mad Scientist-league threats to humanity was a well-meaning guy trying to help the world. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2023, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6749 "2023-06-17T19:41:54Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > But at the time considered two of the world’s most useful chemical compounds. You mean serial killers and skin cancer _weren’t_ what he was going for? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2023, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6750 "2023-06-17T22:23:40Z")
Thomas Jefferson had slaves and helped create the world’s foremost democracy. The real world contains many, many examples of _both_. Picking one and ignoring the other distorts understanding. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=336) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=338)